Although termination of a data transmission channel (a link between a transmitter and a receiver) is well known, typically termination issues are resolved on a circuit-by-circuit basis and can require use of an engineer or designer to customize the termination of each channel. For systems that use few transmission channels, the overhead for use of the engineer or designer is not prohibitive, but systems are being developed that use large numbers of channels.
There are many types of systems that may use large numbers of transmission channels. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of one representative system having many transmission channels. FIG. 1 includes a system 100 having a first application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) module 105, a second ASIC module 110, and one or more physical connection links 1115. Each ASIC module may include one or more transmitters/drivers 120 and receivers 125. Each link 115 between a driver 120 and a receiver 125 extends through one or more connectors 130. Each link 115 is formed from a particular medium. There are many different types of media that may be used depending upon the particular application, with connectors 130 appropriate for the particular medium.
As shown in FIG. 1, two different representative mediums are illustrated: a backplane medium 135 and a cable medium 140. In the construction of system 100, it is known to use a backplane medium 135 and cable medium 140 for communicating ASIC modules together. The media may communicate different types of signals, the most common being differential or common-mode signals, and each link 115 may be AC-coupled or DC-coupled depending upon design considerations. There are many different standards for interconnecting drivers 120 and receivers 125, and for terminating the link between them, that may be applicable to one or more links 115, depending upon signal type, medium, coupling, and other well-known factors.
ASIC module 105 and ASIC module 110 are typically configured using standard circuit configurations from an approved cell library. Customers may include custom circuitry in front of drivers 120 and after receivers 125, which means that the driver/link/receiver channel should be adaptable and flexible. As the number of ASICS increases, and the number of drivers on each ASIC increases, it becomes prohibitive to custom design and implement proper termination for each link 115.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for efficiently providing standard termination blocks in an approved cell library that are flexible and customizable. The present invention addresses such a need.